Another eye opener from Merle!

Those of you who don't take the time to read Merle Widmer's posts on Peoria Watch really should reconsider. His entries are longer than most bloggers, but he carefully considers each topic and all are well written. Today, Widmer has an interesting post regarding our lacking public schools. Golly, it might not all be the fault of the institution! Culture, parents and even students might need to share the blame and shoulder a bit of the responsibility. Wow!

Thanks Merle, for having the guts to write the truth... even if it hurts.

Why, Oh, Why does the Journal Star hate the Fire Department so damn much?

There must be a reason. Count on it to be stupid. Another year, another City budget under review, and yet another editorial from the brainiacs at the Journal Star stating there is no need to reopen Fire Station 11. This despite the fact every overpaid consultant the City has hired states that Peoria's older neighborhoods are underserved and at risk for lack of a better staffed and equipped Fire Department.

Flower baskets on Main Street? The editors say we NEED them! They improve the quality of life for every Peorian and are vital to the renaissance *snicker* underway in the Med Tech District. The $100,000 municipal band? A must! I went to a Muni Band concert last summer. Including myself there were seven people in attendance. Two of them old men who were - I swear - asleep.

You know what I think? Editor Mike Bailey or Editor Shelley Epstein has a personal vendetta against the Fire Department. There is a story here, and I need someone out there to tell me what it is. Did Firefighter's Union President Tony Ardis refuse to climb a tree to save Mike Bailey's cat? Did Shelley Epstein forget to chew before swallowing and had to have the Hemlich Maneuver applied by a snickering firefighter? Did some buff firefighter make a pass at some journalist's wife? Did said wife take him up on the offer?

Someone please e-mail me at polly@mailgenius.com and give me the scoop. Peoria is a small town and I'm sure just about everyone but moi knows. If the editorialists are going to continue advocating the endangering lives of citizens and firefighters by broadcasting their perverse desire to keep cutting the Fire Department budget, I think we all deserve full disclosure as to why. Why? Why? Why?!

Oh! There's a reason the governor's name sounds like a disease.

From this morning's Journal Star:

Chicago- Unable to get lawmakers to support a ban on junk food in schools, Gov. Rod Blagojevich is asking the Illinois State Board of Education to use its authority to bar the sale of soda and other unhealthy foods at elementary and middle schools.

"I believe that if we successfully implement a ban on junk food at elementary and middle schools, it will help build the case for a ban in high schools," the governor wrote to board members Monday.

Blagojevich and House Republican Leader Tom Cross proposed a junk food ban nearly two years ago. They argued it would help reduce childhood obesity, but the measure failed.

At the time, some school officials and lawmakers said they were concerned about schools losing the extra money they get from vending machines.

This year; Blagojevich wrote that he is sensitive to such concerns but believes the costs associated with selling junk food in schools outweigh the benefits.

Gee, Rod, perhaps if you'd get off your lazy ass and lead, we wouldn't have to allow our kids to be poisoned with lard in order to fund their educations. Under Blago's reign the Capital fund for schools has been tied up and un-used. Gov. Chicagovich wants it all for Chicago schools, while politicians in other areas of the State think all children living in Illinois deserve a decent education.

Okay, NOW it's serious!!!

From the front page of this morning's Wall Street Journal:

"Standard hypodermic needles are increasingly unable to penetrate fat and reach the buttock muscle due to rising obesity, Irish researchers said."

Yup. That does it. I'm putting down the donut, I'm going to the gym.